With the Terminus Festival only a few days and a few thousand kilometers away, and with several artists on the Artoffact Record Label playing that festival, a few of the bands stopped off in Toronto to give us a taste of what they were going to be performing in the coming days. Encephalon from Ottawa and Legend from Iceland were the headliners of the Toronto visit.
From the outskirts of Toronto it also happened that the artist Volt9000 just released an album on Artoffact Records last month so they got added to the bill, and to round off the evening, the artist Prospero which is native to Toronto, opened the evening.(continue reading…)

Rippling with emotive stealth, sleek melodies, and sly rhythms, the sounds of Dallas based Mr.Kitty dance across the senses igniting thoughts and passions with their incendiary seduction with every persuasive movement. It is a temptation brewed from a blissful fusion of electronic pop and new wave energy with eighties post punk and emotive Goth sensitivity, a fascination which wraps around the mind and heart inviting a full and frank emotional union with the startling imagination and eager perception offered. (continue reading…)

Since 1992, French electronic musician Rémy Pelleschi has used his Mlada Fronta project to compose industrial soundscapes ranging from haunting atmospheres to tribal rhythms to cinematic immersions of the highest order of technical perfection. Owing to the very well-received club hit “XB-33,” which Discogs.com correctly refers to as a club “anthem even,” Mlada Fronta was on everyone’s radar in 1999 when the now defunct Flatline Records put out High Tension, the project’s breakout album. Following this, Pelleschi started Parametric Records and between 2001 and 2005 released truly captivating electronic music (on both audio and DVD) and gained attention from the likes of AllMusic.com, who called Mlada Fronta “nothing short of an extended immersive experience.”

Recognizing the immense importance of Pelleschi’s work as Mlada Fronta, Artoffact Records presents Every Thing, a 10 CD boxset that collects all previous Mlada Fronta releases, including bonus tracks, remixes, extra mp3 files, and all video material. The boxset is housed in a high quality, hard cover digibook including 40 page booklet, all designed by Pelleschi. Each release has been remastered in 32bit 96kHz (hi-definition) using only state of the art analog and digital hardware at Pelleschi’s own QFG Studios. Artoffact Records will also be releasing the entire Mlada Fronta discography as digital releases on iTunes, complete with exclusive PDF booklets.

It seems Toronto, Canada keeps bringing out more and more industrial music artists these days. Cory and Andrew have been working on the Volt9000 project for quite some time now. They self-released their first album back in 2010 and have diligently been releasing a new album each year since, making “Conopoly” their 4th release. (continue reading…)

As their fourth release on Artoffact Records the Italian duo Blank release the album Dark Retreat. Davide (vocals) and Riccardo (keyboards) have released over an hour of music split into thirteen tracks that range in tempo and style from richly complex and layered ethereal soundscapes to beat driven EBM assaults.
Most tracks are melodic and yet retain a dark essence about them that makes for a memorable experience throughout the album.
While the majority of tracks employ Davide’s oral talents, the vocal exploration is rather limited in range on this album. This however is balanced by a couple of tracks featuring powerful female vocals (of Elena Alice Fossi from Kirlian Camera and Elenor Rayner from The Crystalline Effect) which serve to expand the tonal and vocal variety the album. Davides’s vocals are also clean, expressive and bold; a combination and makes for a consistent marker that threads through the entire album bringing it all together.
With each listen of the album I found myself drawn in more and more into the world of Blank as forged by their latest album Dark Retreat. This is a well thought out, well executed and great album from start to finish. Well worth picking up.

First, as an announcement was made by JF yesterday that tickets are now available for purchase, run over and get your tickets. Thought there’s only 550 tickets available, the organizer (JF) has said that if it looks like they may sell out, he will move the show to a different venue that has more capacity.

The venue has also been announced. The festival will be held at Le Belmont this year.

The festival website is also up and running and has all the info you should need regarding the festival. (website)

I will certainly be attending the festival. Hope to see you all there as well!

Out of Moscow, Russia comes a relatively new techno industrial project called Cutoff:Sky that has recently put out their full length album called From Hell. And what an album! This album is a concoction of techno beats industrial elements that is sure to aggressively massage your ear drums to a climax of pleasure.
The first track I had heard from Cutoff:sky was Alcohol (I am drunk) from a compilation called “Mister S’s Hidden Corners of Mind” back in the early months of 2012. That track immediately stood out as a perfect dance floor hit and it was passed on to my DJ friend Edwin Somnambulist (of ISN Radio) who instantly took to spinning it at the local clubs for good reason. ISN Radio has also listed Cutoff:Sky‘s Intruders EP as one of it’s 20 best albums of 2012.

The high energy and pounding beats are perfectly suited for getting your moves on, and the infecting melodies will keep you whistling long after the clubs close. The album explores a lot of musical elements through out the 12 tracks but all have a dark velvety feel to them.

Currently the album is available from Bandcamp at a cost of “name your price”. Grab it here and support this awesome artist.
And once you’ve bought the album, give them some love and like their Cutoff:Sky Facebook page.

Electro-industrial group, How to Destroy Angels, are capturing alternative music listeners, and even random YouTube users with their infectious new music. If you’ve been searching for music around YouTube, especially of the rock genre, you would most probably be recommended to view one of their MVs, Ice Age or Keep It Together. You might just even recognize them as their song, Is Your Love Strong Enough, was part of the hit movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. They have just put up a new video, The Loop Closes. The single is part of an 8-compilation EP entitled, An Omen EP, released November 2012. How to Destroy Angels is a group formed by Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, his wife Mariqueen Maandig, Atticus Ross, and Rob Sheridan. The group is named after a 1984 Coil single of the same name. The genre they are in now might be for a choice audience but once you get to listen, you’ll surely be drawn in. (continue reading…)